Furnace.



U. WEDGE.

' FURNACE. Avy ucmon FILED FEB. 1 .1914. RENEWED AHL'ZL I916! WITNESSES V I8 EN OR I 7 UTLEY x 50 ATTORNEY I Z v v m U. WEDGE.

FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED FEB-1!,i914. RENEWED APR. 27, ISIS.

Paicented Dec. 12, 1916.

5 SHEETS SHEET 3.

1 ATT R N E v /8 IO w J 15 N WITNESSES U. WEDGE.

FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11. NFL RENEWED APR- 27.1916. I

= 1,208,247. Patented Dec. 12/1916.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

' v INVENTOR UTLEY WEDGE BY HIS ATTORNEY L WEDGE.

FURNACE,

- APPLICATHJN man m2. :1. 22m. RENEWED APR. 27. 1916. 1 208 24 7, lmented Bee. 1916.

5 SHETS-SHEET 5.- .33 ,fi-ZE"? a:

WITNESSES sNv-ENToR UTLEY WEDGE g fm, a ms ATTORNEY JW I being similar to that represented; -Fi n '2' UNITED STATES PATENT centre.

u rLnY WEDGE, or ammonia, PENNSYLVANIA.

FURNACE.

Patented Dec. 132,

.Application' filled Februsryll, 191i, secure-meme. Renewed April 2?, 1916; Serial No. sense.

To cu l/172.0772 it may concern I Be it knownthat I, U' LEY Winners, a=cit1- zen of the United States, residing in Ardnore, Pennsylvania, have invented? certain Improvements in Furnaces, of which the following is a specification. 1

The objects of my invention are to so construct a furnace, drier,evaporator, cooler, concentrator or like structure" (hereinafter, for convenience, termed a =furnace.) as to provide extended hearth hrca in proportion to height,- tofrec the space below the hearth chamber from. all driving gears or other o'bstructions, to provide for the uniform heatmg of thelurnace and iuiliorni flow oi the products. of combustion and other gasestherethrough, to prevent rapid'burning out- .of the h'ea'rths, and to provide a structure which, considering its capacity, can be built and operated at relat vely small expense.

These olnects l attain 1n the manner. here inafter set forth, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which 1*ighre 1 isa view, partly in transverse section and part y in elevation, of oneshal l of a furnace constructedin accordance with my invention, the other halfaof the same is a top or plan viewof that half of thefur nace shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is-a sectional view,on a larger scale, of the furnace chamber and its hearths, illustrating the means for mounting the latter Fig. 4: is a View silnilacto Fig. 3, but showing, a section through another part oi? the furnace chamber so asto illustrate means for heuting the hearths; 1" 1g. 5 is a section on thehne (ll-"CL,

. Fig. 4:, showing; a part of each hearthf developed in. a flat plane; Figs. (3, 7 andtl are enlarged sectional views of parts 01. the fur nace intended to illustrate certain structural features of the saine not clearly shown in Figs. 1 to 3; Fig. 9 is a vertical section of the upper portion of one of tl1e,stack-' carrying. in'ei'nbers of the; furnace, Fig. 10 1s a view similar to Fig. 1, but illust ating aspecialv form of draft stack, and Figs. 11 and 12 areviews si1nil;. r.to F 1g, 3, but illustrating modifications of-my invention.

The furnace shown in Figs, 1- to a has fixed annular walls 1 audit of such reitive diameter as. to contain between them a furnace chamber of the desired capacity, this furnace chamber containinga series of superposed annvJar hearths; sonic o'fwhi ch,-

"wheel 9 ha Yin-g which .1, 3, 4:, 5,9, 10, 11 and-12 cf thed because of the small scale of these figures.

represeritccljat at in the drawing, are fixedly mounted in the walls 1 and 2, and either project inwardly from. the outer Wall 1. or o1itwardly fr01n the ,inner wall ,2, while others, indicatedat 5 in the drawing alternate with and lap said hearths 4., these hearths 5 being mounted upon .a rotatable annular .drum, shell, or other structure .6, which occupies a central position in the furnace chamber and is suspended from a spider 7.\vhich is carried by a vertical shaft 8, the latter occupying an axial. position in respect to the annular walls"! and Z and structure 6 and being provided with a worm a beveled under face which travels'upon conical rollers 10 interposed between saidworin Wheel and a conical raceway on a base plate 11, the latter being mounted upon a suitable foundation 1% shaft 8. r

Rotative motion is vimparted to the worm. wheel 9 and shaft 8 by a: Worm 1:3 driven by a motor oi any appropriate ciniracter. The means ,foizincunting. and driving the spider -7 may, however,- be inoclifiedns sired without departing from the-essentialteatures of my invention. The outer portion of the spider T overlaps "the furnace chamber and carries rollers .14 which run upon suitable tracks on the top of the Wall 1. The furnace thus presents inner and outer fixed annular hearths and inner and outer rotating 'annularbea'rths 5 alt rnating with said hearths l and suspended rein-the spider '7, so that great-hearth area can be obtained by providing a. furnace chamber otitlie necessar diameter the hei ht of the 7 h furnace cha l1'll;)(-? I being, I low because the hcarths can be disposed relatively osetogether, no rabble carrying arms be nee g essary, as the rabblcscan be applied (11- rertljv to slotted rihs n-the undersid the hearths, asshon'n forinst-ance in (l, iii-which 1:") represents u. rabll blade having, atthc top, a T' -$l'l.il])(3(ii tongue 16. which is adapted to a sin'ii'larly shaped slot in a rib 17 formed on the undersideof the hearth. The rabblcs arcnot showr Figs.

T h\ walls 1 and 2 of the durnace chamber are stiffened and strengthened by structural steel braces 18 and the h red heartl s i are carried by brackets 19 mounted upon these l rlso receives-the lower end of the braces, the rotating hearths5being mounted upon brackets 20 secured to the annular structure ('3 whose inner and outer members are spaced so far apart that an attendant can pass freely between them in order to gain access to the f-astenings of said brackets or to attend to the heating devices carried by said shell and hereinafter re- .f erred to.

The heating devices which I prefer to use are gas or oil burners 21 mounted upon and moving with the rotating structure 6 and like burners 2 carried by the fixed walls 1 and 2, as shown in Figs. at and 5, each of the hearths 4 and 5 having av gap 23 therein wherever a burner is located, and said burners being, by. preference, so disposed that each of the burners 21 will project its flame t-hrougl'i a gap 23 in one of the hearths 2O 5 and onto the bottom of the hearth l above said hearth 5, while each of the burners 22 will project its flame through a gap 23 in one of the hc'arths land onto the bottom of the hearth5 above said hearth l. The

25 rotating burners 21 thus serve to heat the.

fixed hearths at and the fixed burners 22 serve to heat the rotating hearths, 5, consequently in each rotation of the structure 6 each of the burners 21 acts upon the entire area of 39 its corresponding heart-h 4: and each of the burners acts upon the entire area of its corresponding hearth 5, no portion of either hearth being subjected continuously to the action of a flame from either burner so as to be overheated thereby. I can therefore employ cast iron plates for the hearths and thereby materially simplify and cheapen the construction of the furnace except in cases where the necessary operating temperature 40 of the furnace is so high as to require the use of hearths of 'firebrick of other refractory material.

The burners are distributed around the walls land 2 and structure 6 as may be re- 5 quired to provide the desired amount of heat, and the gaps 23 in each of the hearths -l are out of line vertically with the gaps in the hearths above and below the same, as shown in Fig.6, so as to prevent the dropping of material through a series of hearths -l when a gap in a rotating hearth 5 happens to be in line with a gap in'the fixed hearth 4.

W hile. I prefer for the sake of convenience to use gas or oil burners as a meansof supplying heat, to the furnace, fireplaces using coal or other fuel may be substituted therefor, if desired, and are intended to be ineluded under the general term burners as so herein used.

\Vhen the burners are dis )osed as described so as to cause the products of combastion to act upon the under sides of the hearths instead of directly upon the ore or 15 other material supported by the hcarths, the

said members are preferably provided, on

effect resembles, in a measure, that of a mullle furnace having below its hearths heat ing chambers for the circulation of the products of combustion.

In order to protect the inner and outer members of the annular structure 6 from the heat maintained in the furnace chamber their hearth sides, with a covering 24 of firebrick. tile, or other refractory material, which also serves to protect the fastenings for the hearth supporting brackets 20. The brackets 19 upon which the fixed heurths 4 are supported are protected from the heat of the furnace chamber by being embedded in the walls 1 and 2.

By suspending the rotating hearths 5 from above the furnace the lower portion of the furi'mce chamber is free from any shaftsupports or shaft driving devices. which is, in many cases, a great advantage, and which is also of advantage in a circular furnace having, a cylindrical wall BOearrying the fixed hearths, and a central, suspended shaft 81 carrying the rotating heurths, as shown in, Fig. 11. In this modification I have shown the supporting structure 32 for the shaft 3]. as mounted upon wheels running on rails on the wall 30, said structure be ing rotated by engagement of a worm 33 with a fixed worm wheel 34 fixedly mounted above the wall 80, the shaft of the worm being rotated by any suitable motor mounted upon the supporting structure. An unnular hearth-carryingstructure similar to the structure 6, may also be suspended from structures 32, distributed.around the Same, and having wheels running on rails on the inner and outer annular walls, said structures being driven either as shown in Fig. 11, or by otherwise. rotating the same.

The hearth plates 4 and 5 are preferably constructed in sections with overlapping joints, as shown in Fig.7, so as to permit them to expand or contract under variations in temperature to which they are subjected,

and the structure (3 is likewise composed of sections'with expansion jointssueh as shown for instance in Fig.8 for a like reason.

As the burners for heating the hearths are constantly changing their position in respect to said hear-tbs. it follows that the uniform heating; of all of the. material in the furnace .-.hamber will be etl'ected,'and in order to effect a like uniform draft thro'ughout all portions of the furnace chamber the draft stacks are mounted upon and rotate with the structure (3 so as to constantly change the draft points in respect to the furnace chamberu' Each of the stack-carrying sections of the structure 6 is closed at top, bottom and ends, and thus constitutes a draft chamber which commuuimites with the stack, a: 1 also with the upper portion of the furna e chamber,

the latter communication being effected through openings 26 formed in the inner and outer members of the structure 6, and in the refractory coverings 24 applied thereto, as shown in Fig. 9. I When it is desired to collect, for subsequent utilization, the gases escaping from the furnace, the-stacks 25 may unite in an axially disposed stack 35, having a properly luted joint with a fixed stack 36, as shown in Fig. l(),'said stack 36 communicating with any desired storage or utilization plant.

By preference, the uppermost of the fixed and rotating. hearths are in the same plane 'and the rotating hearths are flanged at their outer edges, thereby providing at the top of ,the furnace chamber a drying floor and a luted passage from the same to the next.

lowest hearth, as shown in Fig. 3.

The burners 21 and 22 are, by preference, employed only in connection with the hearths in the lower portion of the furnace chamber, the upper hearths being used as pie-heating hearths.

The construction of my improved furnace provides for the ready removaland replacing of any one of. the hearth sections, eonsequently the operation of the furnace does not have to be interrupted for long periods of time in order to effect hearth repairs, it being understood that the walls l and 2 are properly apertured. for the insertion and withdrawal of the hearth sections.

In the modified construction of furnace which I have showninFig. 12 the structure 6 is a fixed structure and carries the stationary hearths 4, the Walls 1 and 2 being replaced by rotating structure's 1 and 2 which are suspended from the spider? and carry the movable-hearths 5"". 3

While I have shown each of the l1earthoarryingmernbers 1, 2 -and' 6- of my im proved furnace as provided with a series of superposed hearths and while such construction is always preferred, yet many of the valuable features of my invention may be embodied in a. furnace in which each of said hearth-carrying members has but a single hearth. In additionto the function of suspending the rotatable hearth-carrying structure the spider 7 also serves to brace saidstrueture and impart such rigidity thereto as will prevent any distortion or malformation thereof by the load which it has to carry.

I claim:

1. The con'ihination, in afurnace, of inner and outer fixed annular structures, the inner havii'lg an annular hearth projecting outwardly therefrom and the outer having an annular hearth projecting inwardly therefrom, and an intermediate rotating annular structure having annular hearths projecting in both directions Inerefrom, the inwardly projecting hearth lapping that of the inner fixed structure and the outwardly projecting hearth lapping that of the outer fixed structure.

2. The combination, in a furnace, of inner and outer fixed annular structures, each having a series of superposed annular hearths projecting therefrom, those of the inner structure projectingoutwardly and those ofthe outer structure projecting in wardly, and an interposed rotating annular structure'having on each side of the same a superposed serles .of annular projecting hearths, those on the inner side lapping corresponding hearths of the inner fixed structure and those on theouter side lapping corresponding hearths of the outer fixed structure.

3. The combination, in a furnace, of a fixed annular structure, having" an annular hearth projecting therefrom, and a rotating annularstructure having an annularhearth projecting therefrom and lapping that of the 'fixed structure, an axially pivoted structure disposed above said annular structures, and means for suspending the rotating annular structure from said upper structure.

4:. The combination, in a furnace of inner and outer fixed annular structures, the inner having an annular hearth projecting outivardi'y therefrom and the outer having an annular hearth projecting'inW-ardly there from, and an intermediate rotating annular structure suspended from above and having annular hearths projecting in both directions tl'ierefroin, the inwardly projecting hearth lapping that of the inner fixed struc-' ture and the outwardly projecting hearth lapping'that of the outer fixed structure.

5. The combination, in a furnace, of innor and outer fixed annular structures, each having a series of superposed annular hearths projecting therefrom, those of the inner structure pro ecting outwardly and those of the outer structure projecting in wardly, and an interposed rotating annular structure suspended from above and having on each side of the same a series of. superposed annular projecting hearths, those on the inner side lapping corresponding hearths of the inner fixed structure. and those on the outer side lapping corresponding hearths of the outer fixed structure.

6. A furnace having inner and outer fi'xed annular walls, annular hearths projecting inwardly from the outer wall and outwardly from the inner wall, a. rotating annular structure concentric 'with and intermediate of said fixed walls, hearths projecting both inwardly and outwardly from said rotating annular structure so as to lap the hearths of the inner and outer fixed structures, and'burners carried by one of said annular structures and serving to heat the other annular hearths.

7. A furnace having fixed ad rotating hearth-carrying members, and burners carried by both 'of said members, a rotating burner directing its flame transversely across a fixed hearth and a fixed burner directing its flame directly across a rotating hearth. I

8. A furnace having fixed and rotating hearth-carrying structures, each with a series of superposed hearths, those of one member alternating with and lapping those of the other member, each of said members also having a series ofburners disposed one above another, the rotatin burners directin their flames transverse y across the fixed iearths and the fixed burners directing their flames transversely across the re tating hearths.

9. A furnace having a movably mounted draft outlet, and means for moving the same to cause it to communicate suecessirely with difi'erent portions of the furnace chamber. v

10. A furnace having an annular working chamber therein, a draft outlet, and means for causing movement of said draft outlet around the annular chamber whereby it is constantly changing its position in respect thereto.

11. A furnace having a rotatingstructare, hearths carried by and promoting therefrom, and a draft outlet carried by and rotating with said hearth-carryuig structure.

structure also having a hearth projecting therefrom and lapping that of the fixed structure, and a draft outlet carried by and rotating with said rotating hearth-carrying structure.

13. A furnace having an annular working chamber, a rotating annular structure therein, an annular hearth projecting from said structure, a draft chamber in said rotating annular structure. which is in communication with the hcarth-rurciving worle in; chamber, and a stuclc carried by and rotating with said rotating annular structur eand communicating with said draft chamber.

14. A furnace having an annular worle ing chamber, and a rotating annular hearth carrying structure therein containing a plurality of. separate draft chambers each in connnunication with the working chamber and each provided with a. draft stack.

15. A furnace having a working' chamber, a movable draft outlet which connnunicates successively with different portions of said working (.llltilllXW, and a fixed final outlet with which said movable draft outlet is in conuuunication.

16. A furnace having a working chamber, a rotating, annular structure contained therein and having a, draft outlet which "upper structure upon the annular hearths posed above said annular hearth carrying structures, means for supporting said upper structure upon the fixed annular hearth carrying structure, and means for suspending the rotating annular hearth carrying structure from said upper supporting structare.

18. A furnace havlng a fixed annular structure, a series ofsuperposed fixed hearths carried thereby and projecting, therefrom, a rotating annular structure canrying a series of superposed hcarths which project from said structure and overlap and alternate with said fixed hcarths, a structure disposed above said annular hearth carrying structures, means for suiporting said xcd annular hearth carrying structure, and means suspending the rotating annular hearth carrying structure from said upper sup-- porting structure.

19. A furnace having a pair of annular walls, a fixed annular hearth carried by the inner wall and projecting outwardly there from, a fixed annular health carried by the outer wall and projecting inwardly therefrom, an, annular structure rotating between said walls and carrying inner and outer projecting annular hearths which lap the fixed annular heurths of the inner and outer walls, and means for rotating said annular structure from above.

20. A furnace comprising inner and outer annular walls. a series of superposed fixed carried by and projecting outwardly from the inner wall. a series of superposed fixed annular hearths carried by and projecting inwardly from the outer wall, an annular structure rotating: between said walls and carrying an inner and an outer series of superposed annular hcarths which alternate with and lap the fixed hearths of the inner and outer walls, and means for rotating said annular structure from above.

.21. A furnace having a fixed structure carrying. a projecting hearth. a movable for combustion throu h the ml in said niovable hearth and transversely across the fixed hearth. y

22. A furnace having'a fixed structure. a

hearth projecting therefrom and having a gag therein, a movable strncture,earrying a'rth which laps the'fixed hearthl'and disc has agaptherein, and burners carried by said fixed and movable structures and so disposed thet one will p oj P M Q f combustionthrongh the. gap i the. fi heenthn'nd transversely acnoss the movable [hearth 'and the other will project products fixed hearth.

of combustion through the gap in the mow able hearth and transversely across the 23; A furnaceihaving in fixed stiucture f with a series of superposed heerths, a, I'nov 'agle structure carrying series ofsuperpqsed'hea ths' which elteitnete with d lap the fixed -hea.1'ths, eiie'h ,ofi said movable heapth's having a gap therein, and a series ,of

burners carried by; said movable st'rnotiire and projecting rodnctsfloi combustion through the gaps ofthc move'ble hearths'endtransversely ec 'oss the corresponding fixed ,h eerths. M "='24..A with a'series of superposed heerthsp'rojectfurnace {having a fixed structure ing therefrom and eachhaving a gap, th min, a movable "structure hevjingeseries of ping said fixed heei'ths and each having a fgop therein,,and burners cei giedx 'espee tively by said fixed -and' movable structures "e hd so disposed that ithe fixed hornets pro- 1 ject products of combustion through the gaps of the fixed hearths and transversely acrossthe corresponding movable hearths and the movable burners project products of combustion through the gaps of the movable hoarths and onto the corresponding fixed hearths.

25. A furnace havlng heerths composed of sections whose tops are all in the some horizontal plane, said sections having rabheted and overlapping edges.

26. A furnaceheving an annular hearthcerrying structure, an annular hearth projecting therefrom and composed of sections disposed side by side and having their tops all in the same plane, said sections having {rgpbete d and overlapping edges.

27. A furnace having an annulai: struc- "ture composed of sections, with expansion joints between them and annular henrths 

